Hey /r/fitness!
I've been going to the gym for a little over a year now and my younger brother (13y.o./95lbs.) will be added starting Jan. 2013. I will not be able to be there for his every session, so I need to put together a workout plan for him that his Father can facilitate. I know how important it is to cultivate technique so I will make sure that is the primary focus and not the weight.

My Brother is a competitive swimmer and he has swimming practice every day for about two hours. So, his aerobics are taken care of. The gym should help him grow a stronger body, gain weight, and become bigger.

I am planning to have him do the big three: bench, squats, and dead-lifts to start. Also, pull ups, dbell flys, and straight arm pull overs. Four sets of each big three. Set one: 8-12 reps at 60%. Set two: 7-10 at 80%. Set three: 5-8 reps at 100%. Set four: 8-10 reps at 50%. These numbers are approximations for now and will be adjusted based on first day bench mark.

I am still an amateur when it comes to the gym so please make suggestions for exercises/reps/sets that would be most beneficial for a 13 year old looking to grow tall and big and help in swimming.

Also, I am very aware that nutrition is extremely important in exercise. I think that he should just be eating a lot in general so that his body has something to grow from, but should he be eating more or most of his daily calories after swimming or after the gym? The gym will probably occur after 5 pm post swim practice.

Last question: I know he cannot hold the 45lb bar in deadlift position. He says his fingers slip. Perhaps gloves will help but I think his grip is not strong enough. To improve grip, the forearm muscles must be worked on correct? What are some good grip/forearm exercises? I only know the palms down bar bell wrist curls or lifts usually done on the preacher bench?

EDIT: Morning now and I am back. From the replies I see a mix of gym is bad and gym is good for a young man. I read on the right some links from .gov sites and their references about weight exercises for youth which reassured me that he is at a fine age to start. mshmash has them in his post below.

Now, about the exercises. I agree that he does not need to be bulky for swimming so the rep count and weight will reflect that. Also, we will add the overhead press and work on forearms with the preacher bench wrist curls etc. Although many did not agree with Ragerniggles, those basic exercises like Pushups, lunges, and practice squats are something I forgot to mention. They are excellent because we can easily do them at home or use them as a warm up in the gym.

I actually am a competitive swimmer also, and have been for a while, I did take the advice to do starting strength also and I found the load to be too much for my body with the practice schedule I had, which is very similar. Let alone for someone his age, his times will get better by conditioning and technique changes.

Apart from the advice already posted in this thread (Starting Strength (with rows instead of power cleans) + eating like a beast to get big and strong), I wanted to chime in on a couple of things. Specifically, his grip and the suitability for barbell training for preadolescents.

Firstly, his grip. You say he struggles to hold the 20kg bar in the deadlift position, as his fingers slip. In that case, get him to grip the bar. If it is a matter of his hands being too small, which is unlikely, that is a different issue. Finger slipping is solved by just gripping the bar with all your might while lifting, and also the use of chalk.

Secondly, barbell training is totally[1] safe[2]. You do not need to worry about growth hindrance, joint damage or anything, as long as he is lifting with good form and he's leaving his ego at the door. There is no evidence that resistance training with a barbell causes damage to the epiphyseal plates (growth plates).

In terms of caloric intake, and the timing of it, in order to maximise recovery and glycogen replenishment, eating post swimming would probably be for the best, but I don't know how close swim practice and gym time is.

Don't worry about the sets and reps as you've prescribed them. That's a lot of volume for compound lifts and although it might make him bigger (i.e. hypertrophy), for swimming that might actually be detrimental (drag etc), so he should be pushing for strength and power.

Lifting will be good for him, but if the swimming practice is intense, it would be better for him not to do lifting and swimming on the same day. Also I'm seeing a good amount of hypertrophy work in your plan for him (8-12 ish rep range), which would probably not be ideal for a swimmer. He should try and do a good chunk of his lifts with high weight, and low (5 and below) reps for strength, and the other with lighter weight but above 12 reps per set for endurance. Also I don't see much for the shoulders in your plan, get him doing some overhead presses. And don't neglect stretching, the kid's gonna get some muscle, but he has to keep his ability to move fluidly.

Not if he wants to be a swimmer. Stop reccomending SS for everything. He should probably ask his swimming coach how he should train because it is pretty much always integrated into swimming. If his trainer can't give any advice then look it up with someone else that actually knows what they are doing.

What exactly is the consensus on lifting at a young age? Last I checked it was a commonly held misconception but that very well may have changed. I'd imagine the hormone-cocktail being released when lifting actually prompts growth.

I do have to agree with RagerNiggles on delaying the compound lifts especially if your brother is struggling just to keep a grip on the bar. Associative/Supplemental/Isolation exercises, I feel, would be the more reasonable foundation and will allow him to start doing the bigger movements with proper form.

Forearms can be addressed through a multitude of exercises. Wrist curls, hammer curls, farmer's walk, curls with an EZ on the preacher bench do seem to activate the forearms nicely as well.

EDIT: He should be eating all the time. Just get the calories in along with sufficient protein. If he's swimming and lifting, he'll probably be hungry the entire day. He's also 95 lbs.

Nah have him do the lifts... that guy is full of shit. Have him overhead press as well though. Just make sure you are there enough to make sure his technique develops reasonably well. Before you give up on deadlifts try chalking up.

13 is too young to be benching, deadlifting, and squatting. If he cannot even hold an olympic bar, he has no place in a gym lifting weights. Additionally, the 3 main exercises are also the hardest to perform with proper form. As a beginner, he should focus on less complex but still full body movements.

Focus on bodyweight exercises, such as lunges, pushups, pullups, etc. Keep reps at least above 10. There is no reason to lift for strength at such a young age, it will only damage his body.

Keep everything gradual. Start with just 2 workouts a week, dividing lower and upper body. Then after a few months, do 3 a week, then 4 and so on while slowly increasing the number of sets. After a few years, he will have a solid foundation and will still be well ahead of the game for his age. At that point, he can start training for strength.

The research done on children and resistance training have mostly come back positive. If you search for children/ pre adolescents , resistance training and safety in scholar you can get these results too.

He needs to do strength training for a few months (3x5) then after that rep wise for mass its 5x10 - 8x10. However I don't think he should start at 13, at my gym you have to be over 16 to use the free weights because studies have shown lifting heavy weights under that age can cause joint problems in later life.